Tuesday, December 31, 2013

I have some jewellery for you today. When I got these little cabachon connectors in stock, I was itching to get creative with them... so many different ideas! I just love the vintage feel to them too and so I thought I would start with my ever favourite 1930s dictionary!

Firstly I inked the top of one of the cabachons with a black ink and stamped it several times onto my dictionary page. You can stamp over particular words if you want to! This then gives you the shape to perfectly fit into your cabachon. Don't forget to clean off the ink! Then cut out all your pieces. Add a little Glossy Accents into the bottom of the cabachon and then stick your dictionary piece. Use a pricking tool to push it firmly into all the edges. Once firmly fitted, then flood the area with more Glossy Accents and set aside to dry. Once dry, I fed a spacer ball onto an eyepin and then turned a loop the other side to join together all my pieces and fitted a catch.

For the other design, I stamped part of a Chocolate Baroque stamp using black ink onto white card and repeated the same technique as above.

I'm looking forward to making more with these lovely little connectors.

Wishing everyone a happy new year and all the best for 2014! What are your crafting plans for the new year?

Monday, December 30, 2013

Today's card is again from delving through my archives! I discovered this cute little cat card I created earlier in the year that never got shared with you all.

He has been created onto an A6 card. I started by cutting a piece of turquoise cardstock (I've used one with a bit of a texture to add some detail). I then used a Circle die to cut out a section in the bottom right corner. I added a dash border around the edge of my card using a fineliner pen and then set it aside. I next stamped my cat in Archival Ink being very careful to make sure he fitted into the circle gap I had cut - if necessary draw around your circle lightly in pencil, once you mount the blue piece back over you won't see the pencil line!. He is from a Penny Black clear stamp set. I then watercoloured him using distress inks by placing a little ink onto my craft mat and then picking up using a waterbrush to paint in the detail, but I could also have used watercolour pencils or paints too.

Next I cut out a Memory Box Chesapeake Circle out of white card. I cut a length of Cosmic Shimmer Ribbon and tied it into a bow around the blue mount (use a little double sided tape on the back to secure it in the position you want). I then stuck the blue mount over the top and then stuck the circle border matching the circle and trimming any parts that went off the end of the card. Finally I stamped the greeting and cut it into a little banner shape and stuck onto the card.

It's fun to play around with your Nestabilities to cut apetures in different positions and I also like to watercolour with my Distress inks - a whole different way to use them!

Sunday, December 29, 2013

I hope you are all getting some crafting time over the Christmas holidays... I'm yet to fit in my crafting session this week, so I have been going back looking through some of the cards I've made this year that I haven't yet shared with you.

This card is ever so simple to create. I've started with glossy card and used my brayer (roller) to apply Kaleidacolour Desert Heat ink. To get the best results with your brayer you are best to roll slightly left and right rather than just in a straight line. This allows your colours to blend better and get a smoother finish.

Once I had finished creating the two backgrounds I cut out a Crafty Individuals Lacewing Butterfly and a Crafty Individuals Gilded Cage dies just out of matt white card. I then mounted these onto my coloured backgrounds and matted with a black border. When you mount the butterfly, only stick down his body so his wings can be left with movement away from the card. I could some flourishes out of black card using Marianne Designs Frame with Swirl Die and added them in the background. I lovely simply card with clean lines.

Saturday, December 28, 2013

I sprayed the white card generously with water so it was quite saturated and then applied colour using Distress Inks - Mustard Seed, Salty Ocean, a touch of tattered rose and to be honest a few other random colours as by this stage I was using a very well loved colourful piece of cut n dry foam! I left it aside to dry and then embossed with a polka dot folder. Once almost dry, I wiped across the embossed area and as it had so much water the paper structure was quite loose so I was able to distress the dots by just using a cloth and my fingers to add a bit of interest. I stamped the ruler, and the numbers (both Paperartsy stamps) using Black Archival ink and then cut out an oval in white using a Spellbinders die. Onto the oval I stamped the dreams lady in black and then tinted her with salty ocean, mustard seed and a touch of pumice stone on her hands and face with her hair tinted with gathered twigs. I added a zigzag border using a fineliner and some dashes at the bottom as she looked to be floating in the middle! I then stuck the oval down onto my piece (d/s tape wasn't strong enough - it needed some pva as the card was so textured underneath!) I then added some dots and lines to highlight the edge of the oval and the little bird at the top and some curleques from the numbers and the border around the edge of the card.

This piece challenged me a little as it was doing something unusual for me, but I really like the finished piece and plan to do lots more pieces like this!

Friday, December 27, 2013

this is another stamp I borrowed from Sarah. Love the collage style of this one and I thought I was due some bright colours this time!

The stamp is from Hero Arts - Collage Mona Lisa.

I started with a white tag and built up bright colours with Distress Ink - Peacock Feathers, Mustard Seed, Fired Brick, Peeled Paint and added water splashes which I then lifted off with a towel for some texture.. I added lots of dot details using sequin waste as a mask and then stamped the design using Archival black ink. I also stamped my tag onto scrap and cut out the shape so I could use it as a mask to add more yellow tones to the area of the stamp to make it stand out from the background. I used water to lift some of the colour from Mona Lisa and then painted in the holly using peeled paint and the berries using fired brick. I also added some shading to the Eiffel tower using Iced Spruce. I used my white gel pen to highlight some details of the stamped design and then added some cross-hatch patterns around the outside to add a little interest.

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Thought I would post something non -Christmassy today! I've been really inspired by some of the art created by Wendy Vecchi from Studio490. This led me to playing around with a few ideas based on having colour splashes onto a white background. I added Iced Spruce, Pumice Stone, Salty Ocean and Seedless Preserves Distress Ink to white card and generously sprayed with water so it would run down with droplets of water to spread the colour. Once it had thoroughly dried, I stamped the cogs and the pattern background from the Steampunk Butterfly set from Chocolate Baroque using Pumice Stone. Next I stamped Wake your Dreams from an Andy Skinner Stamp set using archival black - but it didn't quite come out black enough so I traced over it with a black fineliner to make it really punch out. I doodled some hearts and borders around the piece to add some detail. I then stamped a Paperartsy number stamp at the bottom and cut out a Spellbinders cog die and two Papermania heart dies - which I then embossed with a polka dot embossing folder. I coloured the hearts using Seedless Preserves and then highlighted the dots with white gel pen and drew patterns around the dots with a fineliner and then stuck them down. I drew some details on the cog too. Finally I added the little flower as a little interesting detail! I had great fun with this piece and will definitely be creating some more.. I already have another design to post up in a couple of days!.. back to another Christmas design tomorrow!

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Woohoo Christmas Day! This is a scheduled post as at this moment I will be having a fab Christmas Dinner at our local pub with my family! Hope you are all having a fabulous Christmas and have lots of new crafting goodies to play with!

Today's project is using the same stamp as yesterday. My borrowed Santa Stamp. Well I was the ultimate in cheeky in that I used my friend Sarah's Stamp to make her Christmas Card - I figured at least I knew she would like the design!! I can publish it now as she should have opened her card.

The stamp is from Tim Holtz and I started by stamping the design using Archival Black ink onto white card and trimmed it to size. I then colour washed it with a waterbrush using various Distress Inks. Fired Brick, Aged Mahogany, Peeled Paint, Forest Moss, and the background was tinted with Iced Spruce. I then cut a piece of card larger than my first as a mount and coloured it with Peeled Paint.

Next I cut a selection of sized backing pieces from different brown shades of card and paper from my own stash to arrange as a backing.

I coloured some white card using Gathered Twigs Distress Inks and cut out the Memory Box Precious Snowflakes, the Memory Box Tessatina Border and a free Christmas Tree die I got on a magazine. I cut the tessatina border into a single line of squares (just love this die for it's versatility!) and mounted everything all together onto an 8x8" card blank. I was really pleased with the result and I hope Sarah was too!

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Isn't it lovely when you get to borrow a stamp from a friend? Well my friend Sarah lent me this Tim Holtz Santa stamp and I just had to get started getting creative with it!

I cut myself a tag from a white piece of card and started building up the colours using Distress Inks - Ice Spruce, Fired Brick, Peacock Feathers adding some detail using That Special Touch Music border mask. I then spritzed with water and lifted the droplets with a towl to add some texture. Finally I added some dots using sequin waste as a mask. I then stamped by Santa using Archival Black. I used a water brush to wet the face area and a towel to lift off some colour so he stood out from the background.

Finally I dabbed some Fired Brick and Peeled Paint ink to my worksheet and used my waterbrush to paint in some detail on santa's suit and the holly and berries. I added some gold Cosmic Shimmer Gilding wax around the edge of the tag (this really glistens in the light) and coloured some white card with the gold wax. I then cut some strips to add to the top and the bottom of the tag. Finally I stuck on two snowflake charms.

Monday, December 23, 2013

Today's creation featured the newly in stock Poppy Stamps Blooming Poinsettia Die - it creates such a beautiful poinsettia - and I look forward to using this in summery colours as a flower later in the year too!

I started with a white tag shape and added Iced Spruce, Pumice Stone and Fired Brick Distress Inks with Cut n Dry foam. I also used That Special Touch Music note border mask (peeking out behind the poinsettia). I then embossed the whole tag using Couture Creations Turkish Delight folder and then added more distress ink shading. I next added highlights using Cosmic Shimmer Gilding Waxes - Gold and Patina and applied some patterns through sequin waste with Fired Brick. Splash with water and remove the droplets with a towel to give that distressed look.

I cut out all the pieces of the poinsettia die and coloured the three layers of petals with Fired Brick, Aged Mahogany and a little touch of Gathered Twigs Distress Inks. It was then spritzed with water and the droplets lifted with a towel to give that mottled look. The top piece was coloured with Mustard Seed and Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink and the leaf with Gathered Twigs and Peeled Paint with a hint of gold wax. I curled the petals to give it some dimension and assembled onto my tag using Cosmic Shimmer Dries Clear Glue.

the picture doesn't do the shading justice - particularly the wax highlights that really glisten in real life!

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Yes... I got a new stamp... can you tell! One of those stamps that you see and straight away have loads of card ideas. I had a fab crafting session at the weekend and managed to create these 7 cards.... and I still have more ideas I haven't had a chance to create yet!

We'll be creating a Rosehip Wreath card at this week's Attleborough Craft Club (this Friday 6.15-8.30) as part of the make and take - so if you fancy a dabble, come and join us (call 01953 454976 for info).

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

we are holding a Stix2/Woodware demonstration in store this saturday (9th Nov) between 10am and 4pm. Annette will be visiting us with a day of demonstrations so if you can make it we would love to see you there!

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Sometimes you see a stamp and say 'I've just got to have it!'.... well that's how I was with the Steampunk Butterfly stamp set from Chocolate Baroque. Love the big butterfly, but there are just so many elements on this stamp I know I will use over and over again.

This design was put together in one of our recent workshops - this time the alcohol inks techniques workshop.

I created the background with Stream, Raisin and Orange alcohol inks and then added on some blots of blender to bleach out the colour a bit. At that point the background had quite a bluey grey industrial look to it, so I immediately reached for my steampunk stamps.

I stamped the designs on using Archival Black ink and then added highlights with my usual favourite White gel pen. All of a sudden, I noticed that now I had added some steampunk elements the browns seemed to show more in the design - almost looking a bit rusty.

I just love the finished result and now have it proudly displayed up on the gallery wall in the shop!

These stamps are on reorder and due to arrive this week - let me know if you want a set reserved! Would you like to learn some new techniques? I run regular workshops at our Attleborough, Norfolk store - come and join the fun! Click here for a list of our latest workshops.

Monday, July 8, 2013

Well... what a fun day we had!.... the heatwave couldn't distract us..... even the Wimbledon Final couldn't distract us (alright... we did keep an eye on the score!).... we were in paint/ink/stamp heaven!

We worked onto 12x12 stretched canvas (now in stock - just £5 each). We worked with a range of acrylic paints, spray inks, texture paste, masks, stamps, stencils and dies to create these fabulous canvases.

We know that a few people would have loved to have come along.. but had prior arrangements.... if you are one of those people, please email/phone us to give us your name as we are arranging a date for this workshop to run again. It will be an all day workshop - on a Sunday - 10-3pm(ish) £40 including a goody bag worth (£10). Call on 01953 454976 or mail at aldridgecrafts@googlemail.com.

My Steampunk Canvas

My Butterfly Canvas

Getting painty!

Janet's canvas in progress

Jon's Canvas in progress

Ann's Canvas in progress

Angie's Canvas in progress

Four happy crafters!

Jon's Canvas

Janet's Canvas

Ann's Canvas

Angie's Canvas

If you've never worked onto canvas... go on - give it a tray - it's great fun and has endless possibilities!
happy crafting
Janewww.aldridgecrafts.co.uk

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

As promised here is my finished creation from the stash of goodies I pictured this morning. I've had such a fun time creating this canvas, one of those projects I've had in my head for a while and so glad to get something created!... and I've done the background of an 8x8 steampunk canvas too, ready to be embellished - but that can wait for another day's blog!

If you fancy having a go at these canvas pieces, we now stock 12x12" and 8x8" canvas blanks. Don't know where to start? Join us on our all day mixed media workshop and create your own canvas on whatever theme you like! It is on Sunday 7th July 10-3 held at our shop in Attleborough. It costs £40 per person and includes a goody bag worth £10. Call 01953 454976 or email me to book.

I've included a product list with links to the website if you want to add any of these goodies to your stash!

oops sorry guys... I've been a lapsed blogger this month! it's been busy busy busy sorting out new deliveries, planning new workshops and planning lots of samples, so I've not had time to share them!

Today is a playday. I'm busy preparing another canvas sample for our All day workshop on 7th July which is a mixed media workshop - where you'll be creating a canvas using paints, inks, papers, embellishments, texture pastes and much more! (it's 10-3, £40 per person and you can book by calling 01953 454976).

Here is my picture of goodies I've gathered to play with.... so excited to have new stuff to get creative with... and yes.. you might just detect a bit of a steampunk theme there!

Will share my creation later on!

hope you get some crafting time today too!
Jane
www.aldridgecrafts.co.uk

PS... if you want to follow the creation of my canvas... visit our facebook page to see regular pictures of the stages appearing over the course of the day!

Thursday, June 6, 2013

I am sticking with the elephant theme this week... you know what it is like when you get a new set of stamps.. you just want to play!

I started with a Cosmic Shimmer Spritzed background... this one had been done some time ago in my book ready to be decorated.. I tend to prepare a few pages so they are dry to speed up my creations. I used the Chocolate Baroque Indian Elephant stamps for this page. The paisley flower stamp was stamped at the top using Versafine Olympia Green. I then stamped the elephant and the flourish design underneath him in the same ink. I stamped the wording from Chocolate Baroque Artistic Affirmations set.

I then started to paint in details on the elephant using Eco-green paint Aged Gold. I then added highlights through all the stamped designs using White gel and Gold gel pens. I just loved the detail in the paisley pattern stamp - particularly once it had the white highlights. As a final touch I drew in a few white gel pen stars in the background and added a few stick on gems here and there to add some sparkle.

This was a really chilled out piece to create .. it was lovely to sit and just pick out the detail with the white pen.

Monday, June 3, 2013

This week's project is using Distress Inks and a fabulous set of Chocolate Baroque stamps - Indian Elephant. I've worked this project to fit an 8x8" card... here's your step-by-step...

1. Ink up your white card square using cut n dry foam and blend together Distress Ink colours - Mustard Seed, Fired Brick and Spiced Marmalade.
2. Spray some water into your hand and splat the droplets over your card stock, count to ten then dab off using an old tea-towel or cloth.
3. Ink up the silhouette of buildings using Plum Archival Ink and stamp along one edge as a border.
4. Ink up the floral motif using the Spiced Marmalade and stamp randomly over the background, making sure that some images go off the edge of the cardstock.
5. Ink up the right facing elephant with Archival Jet Black ink and boldly stamp in the middle of your cardstock.
6. Ink up the small leaf in the Black and stamp a layer of leaves so your elephant has something to stand on. Turn them at different angles and overlap them.
7. Ink up the pretty flower with Archival Jet Black and stamp a few in the top right corner.
8. Use a waterbrush to brush over the elephant and lift some of the colour off using your cloth. This will lighten the colour of the elephant to help him stand out from your background.
9. Add accents in Gold, Silver and White gel pen around your designs - on the elephant, leaves and the corner flower.
10. Mount onto dark brown cardstock
11. Cut two lengths of cream lace. Fix one across the corner of your panel and mount. Spritz the other with Cosmic Shimmer Bronze Blush and thoroughly dry. Then stick this under the panel so it will line up with the one already mounted across the corner.
12. Finally add a few amber colour gems in each corner and you are done!

If this inspires you to create something.. feel free to link in the comments or post it up on our facebook page - we love to see your creations!

If you need some help with how to blend Distress Inks - we are holding a workshop in Attleborough on 26th July. Email me for info!

Sunday, May 26, 2013

oooh new goodies! Always fab when you get a new collection of supplies to play with! I'm spending today (and tomorrow if I can get away with it!).. playing and creating the project for our forthcoming All day mixed media workshop which is on Sunday 7th July. I have the ideas in my head... now to work out if they will transfer to card/canvas and whether we will have enough time to complete the project in the time planned! It will be interesting as I'm sure my end result will be different as with everything creative things grow as you create.

Here is my new stash....

It contains some fab new wood die cut shapes (new in store and appearing on the website very shortly!). Some Chocolate Baroque stamps - Indian Elephant. The Tim holtz Melange tissue paper and a selection of paints and gesso. I've also put in a couple of spellbinders dies in my craft bag... just in case I need them of course!!

... and if you fancy joining us on our all day workshop - it runs from 10am-3pm on 7th July and costs £40. Limited spaces available, we will provide refreshments & cake but you bring your own lunch. Call/email to book in for a fun filled inky, painty creative day!.... can't wait!!!!

..... let the playing commence... my project will be revealed hopefully later this week (if all goes to plan!!)
hope you get a chance to get creative this weekend
Jane :-)

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

I have a bit of a thing about lettering and fonts. I think it goes back to my calligraphy days. I studied calligraphy for four years whilst I was at school as I was lucky enough that my art teacher was the most amazingly talented calligrapher. So when I got my hands on the Classic alphabet Upper case dies from Memory Box... I just had to have a play.

I used my journal book as a base and started by spritzing the page with water and placing the 'that special touch' cogs mask on the right hand side. I then spritzed with Cosmic Shimmer Bronze Blush mister and allow to dry. I then took a sheet from my dictionary and stuck a few pieces on. I then placed my cogs stencil back in place and added some more colour using gathered twigs distress ink so some of the cogs design was also over the dictionary wording. I then cut out the die out of white card and used the waste piece as a stencil. I used a combination of spritzing the ink through the stencil and also using it with my cut n dry foam with the distress ink to have a few random letters in the background. I used all my white letters to create a random tumbling letters pattern... being careful not to spell out any unfortunate words!! I cut out the words 'create' and 'art' from the lower case alphabet. I kept the 'create' in white and stuck at the bottom of the page. The 'art' wording i used Indigoblu's flitterglu and then applied gilding flakes before sticking to the top.

This piece is a perfect example that you can create art out of anything! Just a few letters and some spritzer sprays and look what appears. It's great fun - I definitely recommend giving it a try!

Monday, May 20, 2013

This week's project features Memory Box Dies and Cosmic Shimmer Misters. I started with plain white card and misted it with a heavy layer of Ocean Sunlight and Golden Mint Cosmic Shimmer Misters. I wanted the colour to have great impact so I really flooded the card with the ink and then left aside to thoroughly dry.

Next I cut out two pieces out of the coloured cardstock using the Memory Box Die - Big Splash Border. I then cut out my middle panel and mounted it onto black card and stuck the two border pieces either side and then mounted onto my card blank. Finally I cut out Memory Box Die Fairytale Flower Border out of white card and mounted it as my focal point.

You could create lots of variations on this design using different colour misters and different border dies... endless possibilities!

Sunday, May 12, 2013

This is another creation from the bronzy-brown collection from a few week's back (I thought I'd post them mixed between the colourful ones so you didn't have a collection of brown posts!!). I had such fun creating this page in my art journal. There was lots of stages to this project so I'll list them as a step by step for a change..

1. Spritz the blank page generously with water then place That Special Touch cogs border mask to the left side and then spritz randomly with Cosmic Shimmer Bronze Blush Mister. The water will make it run.
2. Lift your mask, turn over and place down on the right hand side of your page, this transfers the ink on the mask onto the page to give a watery cog pattern.
3. Rip and tear a random shape from a dictionary page, ink up using some Gathered Twigs Distress Ink on cut n dry foam, then stick down at the bottom using a gluestick.
4. Cut four Bella Bouquet (Memory Box Die) shapes from white card - put two aside. Ink the other two with Vintage Photo Distress Stain and then spritz randomly with your Bronze blush mister - this combination makes for a really good rusty look.
5. Now for the fiddly bit. Stick your brown flower over the top of your white flower but slightly out of line so you can just see the white poking out behind... it doesn't need to be precise, just so you have a shadow where possible. Do this for both flowers and then stick them to the background. I always use Cosmic Shimmer Dries Clear Glue for this job.
6. Cut out an Isabella and Pippi Butterfly from white card (both Memory Box Dies). Colour your Pippi die (the top layer) in the same way as the flower - and the body just with the vintage photo so it's a little lighter. Add a little antique linen distress stain to the isabella butterfly so it isn't glaring white and then assemble into a butterfly. Then stick to your background and add a little line of dashes with a white gel pen.
7. Finally write the words Spring has Sprung onto white cardstock with a black fineliner pen and outline with a box and tint with the antique linen stain. Then cut out and stick on!

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About Me

I live in Norfolk with my husband Pete, Molly the dog and Finlay the cat and have always been a crafter. I started papercrafting in 2003 and love rubber stamping, experimenting with inks and other mediums as well as the traditional decoupage and am now also hooked on jewellery and beading! I started up a mobile shop and on-line crafting supplies shop in March 2007. In March 2012 we opened our high street shop in Attleborough. I run local monthly crafting groups and regular workshops. I also make wedding stationery and supply local shops and venues with handmade cards and jewellery.